So the new home bug is still after me!

I know… this isn’t the best time to buy a new home if you also have a house that you need to sell in order to get buy that new home (hmmmm… that was a winded sentence Altho one needs to be pratical and just try to make the current house as beautiful as one can, one can still dream of owning a new home, one thinks (this one sounds so Bridget Jones, ha ha ha!)

But anyways, for those of you who don’t have to worry of having to sell an existing abode, this is definitely one of the better times to look for that dream castle. The real estate market is on the downscale (and may continue to be so for the next 2 more years, I’ve heard), and as long as you’ve got the credentials to show that you can afford to pay, then go ahead and pursue your dreams! In fact, the shopping part is one of the enjoyable parts of the house-buying routine – it is for me, at least. You get to see model homes, you drive around the neighborhoods of houses for sale, you get to go inside and look around some of them. And if you don’t want to go out, there’s always the real estate websites that will give you a tour of the houses with pictures and even vidoes of the inside and out. Why is this exciting for me? I’m a shop-a-holic and even window shopping excites me!

Some of you might want to do the house-shopping yourself, which is actually ok. Some of you might want to eliminate the hassle of going thru houses that you weren’t really interested in seeing had you known some other facts, and so would want to hire a relocation realtor, which is fine also. Either way, it’s really up to you.

But once you’ve found THE ONE, and the mortgage home loan has been finalized, all the papers have been signed, the hand-shaking ritual between you and the realtor (or former owner) has been done, it’s time to gear up and get ready to move to a new house. Now, this part, I’m not that excited about anymore. And I’m sure I’m not the only one who isn’t very enthusiastic about this.

It’s not only that you have to pack your stuff and put them in boxes and all that (think about all those plates, pots, pans, and pantry stock… NOW you know what I mean). You also have to get rid of things you don’t use anymore, go thru every nook and cranny of your house to make sure that you’ve got them all cleaned. Plus you have to clean up your current digs because if you don’t you either will a) have to give up a portion or all of your downpayment (if you currently rent a house or apartment) as payment to the landlord for cleaning up your unit(it’s in your contract) or b) the buyers of your house would have to discount that cleanup bill from the money they still owe you. And besides, you don’t want anyone to know really how much garbage (not to mention, what kind) you’ve accumulated all these years.

Another thing you have to be careful about picking are the movers. You can actually do the moving yourself – rent a moving van and ask friends and family to help you move. But if you don’t want to or you’ve got really huge stuff you need to move, then it’s time to go on the internet to look for movers and ask for mover quotes.

So once you’ve gotten your new house ready and you’ve finally settled in – the plates, pots and pans all neatly stacked up in the cupboards and cabinets, the bathroom thingies have all been kept away, the clothes have all been stored (hopefully in your new walk-in closet), then it’s time to relax and savor the aroma of a new chapter in your life

I’ve told you about us wanting to get a house soon enough.   I know having a place to call your own is part of the American Dream.  It would always be a good feeling knowing that you have your own place.  It makes you feel proud.  Makes you feel very grown-up that, at last, you’re now a responsible adult and that someone trusted you enough to loan you a huge sum of money to own a piece of that dream. J  And because of that sense of pride, you always make sure that the house you now own is in tip-top shape, clean and presentable.  That’s what a responsible homeowner does.

You also don’t want to ignore the bits and pieces of problems in the house because they might turn into something bigger – and consequently, more expensive to repair.   And when you get to have your own home, that’s when you realize that house repairs aren’t cheap either.

I once had a friend who almost had a heart attack when he found out how much a plumber charges to fix a small (or what he thinks is just small) problem in his kitchen sink.  And I have to agree with him, these people do charge an arm and a leg for their services.  And I think that’s why it’s always recommended to have a home warranty – just like American Home Sheild.

It’s companies like them who would be able to make home repairs a little bit easier to take.

Think about it.  If you’ve invested a lot on your home, you don’t want to leave anything to chance with your home repairs.

Hubbie is a gardening addict. He finds solace in tilling the soil, planting his vegetables and seeing his plants grow. I don’t have a green thumb. I can only help him water his “babies”, and harvest the produce.

But I’ve always enjoyed these small activities. I get excited with seeing the buds of new fruits or new flowers coming out. Spring would always be meaningful for me because the mornings always greet me with a view of daffodils and tulips in the garden. The first signs of life after the few months of the cold winter. Hubby always told me that the daffodils mean a lot to him – it will always be a remembrance that even in the bleakest and coldest of the winters in his life, spring will always come, giving him a promise of new hopes, a new life. And that’s why I have started to love the daffodils, also. It began to symbolize this new life with a husband I will love and be with for the rest of my life – despite the fact that we‘ve met late in our lives.

Later on during the summer, I would see lilies, dahlias, clematises, violets, pansies sprouting all around the house. I get excited when I see tomatoes, bitter melons, string beans, squashes coming out. I already plan on what to cook with the bounties from the garden.

Even way up to the end of fall, we would still have a lot of gifts coming from my husband’s garden. The fall flowers and vegetables continue to give our garden color until the first flakes of snow come.

And I know that when we do move to a new house soon, I would make sure we would still have a sizeable garden for my husband to continue with his hobby.

Altho it isn’t really a breeze to tend a garden. You do need to know what kind of soil you have, which part of the day does the sun shine on your garden, how much sun you get – these are things you should consider when picking out the plants you want to take care of. You also have to know how much fertilizer to put in, on which plants to do it with and all other stuff. If you’re planning on having your own garden and don’t know how to get it going, there’s a lot of establishments that would be able to give you a headstart. There are services like Tru Green that can help you with that.

I suddenly realized… with the past entries I’ve been writing, I really do miss spring so much now…

My husband and I have been planning to move to another house since last year.

We wanted to get a house in the Anne Arundel County – probably in the Crownsville area. Unfortunately, with the real estate market bubble burst we’ve put that dream on hold. We wouldn’t be able to get a good price with the house we’re living in right now so it would defeat the purpose of going to a new house.

Because of this, we’ve just decided to renovate the house we’re in right now so that we would be able to command a better price for it once the market normalizes.

Since the house we live in now was made in the 70s, there’s a lot of features in this 4-level split home that you wouldn’t find in new houses anymore. Firstly, there’s a really good hardwood floor underneath the carpet. We decided to take out the worn-out carpet in the living room to reveal a very beautiful wooden flooring. We also took out the old and ugly paint in the foyer, living room and kitchen and replaced it with a more sedated and neutral light mocha and eggshell-white. We’re planning on installing new base boards and crown mouldings also.

With the help of my husband’s brother and his wife, we’ve already renovated the laundry room – new vinyl tiles, new paint job and pretty soon, new washer and dryer. We’re also planning on setting up a spot in the laundry room where we can hang our delicate clothes that we didn‘t want to put in the dryer.

While we’re doing the laundry room, we’re also tiling our foyer and kitchen. At first, we were just planning on putting on new vinyl flooring. But when we visited Lowe’s, we found out that they were selling a simple but really classy ceramic tile design. We decided to install that on our kitchen and foyer .

Everything is still in the works, but it’s getting to be really promising once it’s done. I’m really excited. Once we’ve cleaned up and the construction dust has been cleaned out, I will be posting pictures to show you all what we’ve labored on for almost a year now.

I know, I know… you’re probably wondering if we’ve also considered the “internal health” of the house. Of course! We’re planning on putting on new mouldings around the window to lessen the consumption of heat in the winter and coolnees in the summer. Plus we’re also checking the water tanks and checking for termites and all other parasites. Just in case, we do find some critters in the house, we know the only weapon against them would be “Terminix”. People have told me that they really work good.

So the real ultimate goal underneath all these is that we’re making sure that the house will be in very good condition once the market gets back to normal and we’d be able to command a good price for the house – something meaty we could put in for the next house we will live in.